Joe Friel's Blog is for the serious endurance athlete who wants to stay current on the science and art of training for sport. Here you will find Joe Friel's thoughts and ideas before they are published anywhere else. You may also visit www.TrainingBible.com for more detailed and free content. Joe's training plans are available at www.TrainingPeaks.com.

07/16/2013

Aging: Update on Recovery and Vision

It seems there is never enough time to do all I want to do.
By the time I watch the Tour de France, work out a few hours, answer emails (it
seems that is what I mostly do these days), and other stuff I can’t always
account for, there is not enough time left to devote to things I enjoy such as
writing. I expect you have the same problem. I thought when I cut back on
working (I’m now retired from full-time coaching—more on that at another time)
that there would be more free time. Ain’t so.

Back to Recovery

Speaking of aging, I was in the mountain community of
Breckinridge, Colorado on the July Fourth holiday weekend. While there it
dawned on me that there is another aspect of my recovery I didn’t mention in my
last post on the topic.

My family drove up to Breck on the afternoon of July 3. That
morning I did my normal Wednesday workout in Boulder: 2 x 25-minute hill climbs
on a 9% grade at about 90% of FTP followed by 8 to 12 minutes of short,
anaerobic endurance intervals at 120% of FTP. These latter intervals are also
on a hill, but not as steep. With warm-up and cool down the session lasts about
2.5 hours. It pretty well leaves me wasted for a day or so.

What struck me while in Breck was that two days after the workout,
despite riding easily and sleeping and eating well, I was still not even close
to being recovered. That’s unusual. Then it dawned on me: I was living and
sleeping at about 9600 feet (3100m) and my “easy” rides had taken me to over
11,000 feet (3600m). You simply don’t recover as quickly at such altitudes.

The same is true when back in Boulder, where I spend my
summers. Our home here is about 5200 feet (1680m). That altitude also has
negative consequences for recovery and makes sleep, nutrition and everything
else I do to hasten recovery even more important. There’s an obvious difference
to how much training stress I can manage here as compared with Scottsdale,
Ariz. where we stay in the winter – 1800 feet (580m). In Boulder I can manage
only two high-stress workouts per week. In Scottsdale it’s usually three and
even four when in the base period.

The aerobic-enhancement advantage of living at a high
altitude may well be offset by the slower recovery and decreased power
production of all workouts. (What I’ve learned about how to modify training at
altitude is a another topic for a future post.)

Also of interest on this topic of aging and recovery are the
comments that older athletes have posted and the emails I have received from
others in the past two weeks. Most have agreed that they also have experienced
a slowing of their recovery rate as they age. The most common solutions they
report using are decreasing the total weekly workload and allowing more time
for recovery between challenging workouts. Please continue to give me your
thoughts on this.

And My Aging Eyes

I guess this could be called an ad for one of my sponsors,
but it’s warranted. I managed to break my every-day glasses last week. And I
only brought one pair with me from Scottsdale. That made driving at night,
going to movies and watching TV a bit challenging. So I asked ADS Sports Eyewear, which I
mentioned in a previous post on this topic, to make some replacement glasses with clear lenses for me using the same frame
as they used for my prescription Oakley sunglasses. I had them in a week and I’m happy to now have my vision back. They’re fast
and the quality is excellent. Thanks ADS!

Moving On

The next topic I want to write about is another common one
for aging athletes: weight gain. I hope to do that as soon as I get caught up
with email.

Comments

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I'm a 59 year old cyclist who has been racing since .... well let's just say I have been beaten on more than one occasion by John Howard. After years of getting away with stick-on reading lenses inside my trusty Oakley M-Frames, my declining distance vision and desire to avoid chasing down my own teammates finally drove me to the optometrist with the idea of getting some sort of bi-focal riding glasses. I've worn progressive glasses for daily (non-riding) use for six or seven years but held off on trying prescription riding glasses for a number of reasons, one of which was cost and another the fact that I ride with my head lower than most so the frames of many common sunglasses tend to be in my line of sight. The doctor suggested contacts as a more versatile solution, so a couple of weeks ago I started wearing multifocal contact lenses for riding. Having never worn contacts before I was apprehensive, but found them to be surprisingly comfortable. They worked very well for training and racing, including racing in the rain, but both distance and close-up vision were compromised a bit. This week I'm trying single-vision contacts and really like them a little better for riding. The problem with these, however, is that while mid-range and distance vision are great, reading the smaller numbers on my Garmin is difficult at best. Even so, I think I may stick with the single-vision lenses if my optometrist cannot come up with a better solution. This way I can wear whichever sunglasses or clear lens riding glasses I want, including my old Ray Bans for driving. Some low-power stick-ons reading lenses for the Ray-Bans and a pair of low-power reading glasses for road trip menu reading may make this a viable all-around solution. We'll see.....

Thanks Joe. Great stuff. Me, 59 year old fitness enthusiast. Cardio was never my thing as a youth. Indeed until age 50 I considered cardio and endurance training mostly something people did that could not lift very much.

Then I took my first spin class. I'll dispense with the chronological progression but suffice it to say today riding (outside) and endurance training are fun.

Recovery however is slow. I've come to the conclusion that if the training is compromising the rest of my life then the quality of life has been diminished. Therefore what is the point? My analogy is golf. Why play the back tees when you know your game can't hack it? Play it forward and enjoy.

So the way I see it now - train and take whatever time it takes to recover. If my next century takes 10 minutes longer my friends will still be waiting for my at the finish line.

Hi Joe:
I live in Boulder and have a hunch I know which 9% climb you are referring to. Anyway, I know you are an advocate of intensity and I am curious if you still have races remaining this season? If not, I assume you keep your intensity going until the Fall before you call it a season?
thank you
Mark

Hi Joe: thanks for your response regarding training with intensity while not having an acutal race on the calendar. Anyway, my question for you is as follows: since I pay close attention to my TSB, do I really need to have an easy week, every third week? It seems easier for me to make sure I have enough "TSB balance" to ensure I have enough gas to do my priority workouts. Your thoughts? thanks in advance for all of the sound advice you provide ..Mark

Markj2323--Good question. I think it comes down to two things. The more important is how deep your "valleys" of fatigue are. The deeper they are, the more likely you are to need to create a positive TSB. Otherwise, assuming they are not deep valleys, a positive trending TSB, even though it may be negative, will bring relief from moderate fatigue (ATL).

Thanks for the recommendation for ADS eyewear. I placed an order last week to test frames. In response, they emailed me and said they're right here in my area! I received my sample glasses the next day by UPS and returned them in person to save shipping. None of the ones I ordered were great, so I spent Tuesday trying on the whole store and finally placed an order for the perfect pair. I have a big ride this weekend (HHH) and hoped out loud that they would be ready in time. They said it wasn't likely. Well guess what? I received a call this afternoon that the glasses were back and I already have them in hand - 48 hours later! And in time for the next big event! Thank you for the recommendation!! I couldn't be happier!